Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Phil Weiss talks to Hajj al-Ahmed, 61, in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev desert. Under Israel’s new plan for developing the Negev, this small village is to be removed and its people relocated to a reservation-like city. And a community of Jewish Israeli settlers is poised to take over the sheikh’s village. Weiss asks, “Has Israel made the desert bloom?” Hajj al-Ahmed responds: Israel has promised roads and water to his people for more than 40 years and never provided it, while giving ample services to Jews. more